Kung Fu Panda 2

Panda Po is back and swinging his paws again. Preferably, of course, to get such delicious food into his mouth. But of course also to protect the Valley of Peace together with the Furious Five. Now is also the time for Master Shifu to teach Po his most important lesson. Only when the permanently hungry panda succeeds in finding his inner peace will he be a true Kung Fu master. But memories of his childhood keep disturbing his concentration. Before Shifu can finish training, a new enemy appears who wants to subjugate all of China with a cruel weapon. Lord Shen, a vile peacock, could destroy the tradition of Kung Fu forever with his explosive invention. And so Po and the Furious Five embark on a battle that will push them all to the limits of their abilities and force Po to face his true origins.

Following the huge success of Part 1 in 2008, it was naturally only a matter of time before Kung Fu Panda 2 would see the light of cinema screens. Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who worked as Head of Story for the first part and makes her debut as a feature director with part 2, tries her best to satisfy the fans of the first part. The successful gags from the first part are used again in a varied form, the action has been stepped up a notch and the animations have also been polished. The result is good animation entertainment with high show value. But unfortunately the sequel has lost much of the charm and endearing wit of the first part.

No question, Kung Fu Panda 2 is funny. In fact, very, very funny in places. And Hape Kerkeling, with his wonderful dubbing, once again adds plenty of charm to the character in the second film. Overall, however, the action sequences dominate too much, which are sometimes too dark and brutal for very young viewers. As a result, many of the side characters, but especially the members of the Furious Five and the wonderful master Shifu, get far too little attention. Especially the interactions between Po and Shifu provided for many wonderful moments in the first part. Unfortunately, there is far too little of that in the second part.

Beautifully, on the other hand, the sequences in which Po seems to remember his origins are wonderfully animated in an old-fashioned way, providing a marked contrast to the perfect computer animations. These scenes have a charm all their own that definitely benefits the film overall. Of course, the same should be true for the 3D animation. But even though there are some nice and also effective 3D effects here and there, Kung Fu Panda 2 is also one of those movies where the three-dimensional effects are nothing more than a nice gimmick. Whether they are really necessary, especially since the senses of the little panda fans are already strained by the fast-paced fight sequences, remains to be seen. The fact is that the reunion with Po and his companions by an additional dimension does not really gain much and the extra price at the box office is therefore only partly justified.

Kung Fu Panda 2 provides good entertainment and proves that the lovable character of the plucky panda can carry more than one movie. The only disappointment is that even Po, with all his fighting skills, can't beat the curse of a sequel, losing much of the originality, wit and charm that made the first film so worth watching. However, what already bothered few viewers with Shrek is unlikely to stop anyone here from buying a ticket for Pos fighting the knife-throwing peacock Lord Shen. If you lower your expectations, you will definitely be entertained. Worth seeing - with or without 3D glasses!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp